Update for Thursday 11/30

Tyler finally went swimming today! He spent about 25 minutes in the water floating around. He will be doing pool therapy every tuesday and Thursday now. He will be doing exercises in the water during the next sessions. He said the water was nice and warm and he enjoyed it.

He spent most of the evening coming up with something witty to put in his yearbook quote. You will all have to wait for the yearbook to come out to find out how he did.

The count down is now 13 days

Don't forget your tickets for the show on saturday. Tyler is looking forward to it. The Sawyers have worked really hard on this and it looks like its going to be a great time for everybody.

Thank you for all you have done

Tyler, Lori Justin Keegan and Jay

Fun things happening for Tyler...

Today, November 30, students at Most Precious Blood School are wearing Jeans for Tyler! Each student paid $5 to go to the "Friends of Tyler Ryan" fund for the right to wear denim! Tyler can tell you how special that is!

Tomorrow, the Faculty and Staff of the Valley Central School District will be doing the same thing.

Thank you to both groups for your support.

Don't forget the big concert this weekend at the Walden Firehouse.

Tyler is planning to be there, and some of the bands scheduled to be in attendance...

FASCID
LEAPS & BOUNDS
LEMONADE GRENADE
NAKED CITIZENS
THE GRADUAL CAUSE
BENNY & FRIENDS

Tomorrow is the last day to buy your tickets in school.

If you need tickets, and are not a VC student, please call Joyce Sawyer at 778-1926

They will not be sold at the door.

Update for Monday-Wednesday 11/27-29

Tyler has been working hard this week, getting his arm strength up and working on his transfers. He also tried out some new wheelchairs this week, trying to find one that will work for him when he leaves rehab. He is getting fond of the carbon fiber/titanium models that are quick, are easy to steer and responsive!!!

Rumors are he may be going in the pool thursday so stay tuned for that news.

Tyler is looking forward to the concert this weekend at the firehouse. He is hoping that everyone gets tickets at school because they will not be sold at the door.

It has been harder to update Tyler's condition as he is settled into a routine of therapy from 10 to 4 every day. As his therapy winds down we hope to have more news to write about.

Keep stopping by and leave a comment on the right because Tyler enjoys reading all of them. We are trying to get some pictures up of him doing rehab, and maybe some pictures from the concert!!

Till the next update thank you for al your help and we are counting the days until

Tyler comes home 14 left!!

Love

Tyler, Lori Justin Keegan and Jay

Update for Thanksgiving Weekend

Tyler came home for Thanksgiving. It was great to have him there. This is the first dinner we have had as a family since Oct 9 and it was special. We were able to share it with Mary from Ireland, who has never been to a Thanksgiving celebration before. So it was twice as special. She got to see how crazy our family can get. She also got to eat some of the best food around prepared by Grandma Ryan!!!!

On Friday Tyler had to get back to work. No rest for him.. 3 1/2 hours of therapy back at HH.

Saturday he got to come home again for the day. He hung around watching videos with Tammy and got to relax. Whie it was warm he got to take a stroll down the road. It was good to get some fresh air. It won't be long before the weather gets cold and snowy so these days are welcome!!!

Tyler is planning to be at the concert at the Walden Firehouse next week so tell eveybody you know to get thier tickets in advance. They are being sold at VC.

Here are some interesting facts:
*This blog has had over 5000 visitors with nearly 200 comments left.
*Tyler also has had about 800 messages sent to his myspace site.

If you add up all the cards and visitors, it is a pretty awesonme number. Thank you all.

Till the next update...


Thank you all

Tyler, Lori Justin Keegan and Jay

Thanksgiving 2006

This Thanksgiving is a very special day for our family.

We are truly thankful to have Tyler home and healthy, and Justin is ready to go back to work.

We have all of the people who have touched Tyler’s life in some way to be thankful for: The Rescue squad, Helicopter crew, Emergency room Doctors and Nurses, Trauma ICU Doctors and Nurses, Pediatric Doctors and Nurses, The Staff at Helen Hayes, all the visitors to the hospitals, all the visitors to the Blog, all our friends at MPB and their families, all the people in the Trinity Lutheran Community, all the friends at VC, Wallkill, Pine Bush, BOCES, OCPSAL, everyone in our immediate family, friends from Ireland, and anyone else that we forgot to include.

We are blessed to have such a large, loving , caring group around us. We know that all your prayers and support for Tyler and Justin have helped to make them stronger and healthier. We cannot say thank you enough for all you have done for us.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and God bless you all.

Love,

Jay Lori Justin Tyler and Keegan

Benefit Concert December 2, 2006

We received this message from Joyce Sawyer regarding this concert. As soon as we can get a list of bands playing, we will list them here.

We are having a fund raiser for the Tyler and his family on December 2nd from 2pm to 7pm at the Walden fire house.

There will be several local bands playing.

We are selling tickets to get in for $5.00 per person. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time.

We will be having numerous raffles. We have had such a great turn out from the community giving us items to raffle off, we will also be selling food and beverages. all proceeds will go to the Ryan family. We are very excited about this.

Tyler is scheduled to come to the event.

Tickets are limited so we want to get the word out its coming up quick. You can buy your tickets at Valley Central High School. Contact names are listed all over school. Or you can call 778-1926.

Late Late Update for the weekend 11/18-20

This is the third attempt at posting this update.

I was sure I did it on Sunday night, but when I went back to check it was gone. Today I typed it all in and then the blog went crazy and I lost all my comment! Not frustrating at all!.

The weekend was the best one ever because Tyler got to come home on Saturday (for the day). Marley (our dog) was so excited to see Tyler that she jumped up on his lap and gave him a bunch of we sloppy dog smooches! Even thought they smelled like cat food, I'm sure that Tyler enjoyed them. He spent most of the day relaxing downstairs near the fire with friends. Later in the day he stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Ryans for a quick visit before going back to HH. He had a curfew of 9:00 and made it just in time (8:45). The next trip will be home for Thanksgiving at Grandmas. We will have a lot to be thankful for that day!

On Sunday, Tyler, Tammy and Katie spent the afternoon working on a 3D puzzle of the Chicago Tower. It finally got finished around 6pm and is proudly in display in Tylers room. It even glows in the dark. Krista and her family brought down some videos and brownies, and Micheal, Eric and Adele Aggazzi stopped by for a vist as well. Thanks guys.

On Monday, Tyler got a new wheelchair. It is smaller and lighter (titanium) and rolls real easy. Tyler reports that it pops bigger wheelies due to the position of the wheels.

This Wednesday, Tyler will go with his Occupational Therapist (Alex) to the mall for lunch. This will allow Alex to show him how to get around the obstacles in the mall and in the resturants. He is looking forward to being out again, as well as a better lunch.

Sorry again for the late post, I got a little lazy here. I will try to not drop the ball again.

Thanks again for all you help and comments to Tyler. He looks forward to reading them and they really cheer him up.

Love

Tyler, Keegan, Justin, Lori and Jay

Thursday 11/16 Update

Tyler had a ggod day: working hard to improve his strength and eating pizza, wings and garlic knots to give him the energy to work hard. Justin Murphy and Connor Miller came by and had dinner with Tyler. All the food tasted good and the Irish dancing by Connor had everybody smiling. The maintenance guys plunging the sink and making some really gross noises didn't even bother us.

Tyler also had a visit from Jeff Cool. He is a fireman from Rescue 3 in the Bronx. He and is fellow fireman were forced to jumop from a burning building because of the flames. He suffered severe injurys and did his rehab at HH. Jeff told Tyler that he also had no feeling or movement in his legs until he started rehab in the pool. He walked out of HH!. Needless to say, we can't wait to get into the pool. It is kept a 97 degreees and will allow Tyler to move his lower body with less resistanace because he will be floating.

Tyler also wants to thank his cousins from upstate, Madeline and Emmy for the nice cards thay made and sent. The cards and pictures that Garrett, Abby, Austin, Michalya, Jenny, Alyissa, Aodhan and Keely made are great too!!

The biggest news of the day is we learned (and got certified on) how to transfer from wheelchair to car today. This means that Tyler can get a day pass to come home for a while. We plan to come home in saturday after 11:00 and stay until Tyler feels he wants to go back. So don;t go to HH to see him on saturday!!! He won't be there...

My apologies for messing up Pete Sklar's name I called him Paul and the spelling on his name is Schyler. Sorry Pete. Thanks for the visit and the cookies.


Thats all for now.. As always a big thanks to everyone and we hope to see everyone soon

Love
Tyler, Justin, Keegan Lori and Jay

Update for Monday-Wednesday 11/13-15

Hello eveyone. Tyler has been working hard these last 3 days in his therapy classes. The highlight of the last 3 days is his ability to move from bed to chair without the transfer board. This means his upper arm strength allows him to move his lower body without needing much assistance.

Lori spent Tuesday with Tyler learning the proper way to move him from chair to bed and chair to car. Once the Therapists think that Tyler can move from his chair confidently with our help, he can get a day pass to leave the Hospital. That means he can come home for the day!!! We are hoping that this weekend works out for a day trip back home. He will be at Grandma Ryans for Thanksgiving for sure.

He also got to try out a new wheelchair but decided it didn't give his back the support he needed so he switched back.

Tyler also is able to move from the chair to the therapy table, and then balance with one hand while taking the chair apart with the other. It is really hard but he got it done.

His freind at HHH, Pete, is going to be released this weekend. He had a road bike accident back in August in Poughkeepsie. Tyler will miss his company as he is one of the younger guys there (23). We wish him the best of luck in his recovery. He has a strong positive attitude and should do well. Last week we got to see him do 25 pushups, clapping between each. It was quite impressive. Good Luck Pete!!

Thats all for now. Thank you again to everyone for all the help you have given our family. We truly appreciate it!!


Tyler, Justin, Keegan, Lori and Jay

Tyler's Weekend Nov 11/12

The weekend was quiet, spent mostly relaxing and resting up the muscles for next week. Tyler had a few visitors and was able to get some good rest. He watched the Jets win on Sunday but fell asleep before seeing the Giants stink up the stadium.
Saturday was nice enough to go outside and shoot some baskets. Kristin and Katie were visting and gor to see his basketball skills in action. Matt, Steven and Dan also came to visit and helped Tyler polish off some of his large stash of cookies and candy.

Tyler is looking forward to another week of getting stronger and working with the nice Therapists at HH. Maybe this week he will also tackle some of his homework!

Thank you to everyone all your help from food to donations to prayers for Tyler. We appreciate everything you have done, you are the best.

Love

Tyler, Lori Justin Keegan and Jay

Update for Thursday and Friday 11/9-10

Tyler had 2 days of some really hard therapy. He has been working hard on moving from bed to wheelchair and back again. He no longer uses the lift to move: he must do it himself and is doing a great job.

On Thursday, Tyler had a visit from Paul Skylar from Walden. Paul is presently in a wheelchair and plays for the rolling Knicks; a wheelchair basketball team. They have won numerous championships and have played in the Nets arena just to name a few. He was able to go outside and shoot a few baskets with Paul but he said it was very difficult and only made one basket. Shooting without using his lower body was very hard. Tyler also met Paul's coach; Joe Bravo who was also a very dynamic individual who intends on visiting Tyler again to talk to him about everything wheelchair related.

On Friday, a group of Physical Therapist students from Stony Brook University visited HHH. Tyler was one of the patients used to demonstrate PT techniques. It was interesting to note that Jeanine told the students that Tyler was one of the more advanced patients even though he was only at HHH for less than 2 weeks. He had to get in and out of bed for different groups and even got to show off his awesome wheelie skills for the students. On friday he had a very special visitor; Marley (our dog). She jumped up and gave him a bunch of wet kisses.

Tyler is looking forward to the weekend so he can rest up for next week. As he gets better with his transfers, he gets closer to being able to get out of the hospital for at least a few hours.

Thank you all for keeping Tyler in your prayers and expect to see him home for some quick visits soon.

We would like to express our sorrow to the Parasino family for the loss of their son, Jeffrey, earlier this week. Joanne and Jeff have helped us though our situation and we thank them for continuing to think of us even in midst of thier time of mourning. They are in our prayers and we ask everyone to pray for Jeffrey as well. Godspeed Jeffrey.


Love

Tyler, Lori Justin Keegan and Jay

Events for the Weekend 11/11 & 11/12/2006

Many thnaks to Paul Bello and the editorial staff at the Wallkill Valley Times for another great article on Tyler. We are truly blessed.

On Saturday night at 7PM (11/11/06), Wallkill Masonic Lodge #627, located on Main Street in Walden will be holding a coffeehouse featuring the talents of local musicians such as Donna and the gang of COC Music store, Kevin and Sue Walker and Alec and Beth Scott of St. Andrew's Church as well as other area performers.

Admission is $15 per couple, and $10 per person and includes light snacks, beverages and door prizes all evening. ALL proceeds of this event will be donated to the Ryan Family.

For more information, call Dennis Zingarelli @ 629-8311.

Apologies to Jessica Winum for the obvious plagarism...thank you for putting this in your column.

Zulu warriors are better than hospital food.....

Update for Wednesday Oct 8

Tyler had his first evaluation day by the Therapists and the Doctors. They said he is doing great and the best news of the day is he will be finished therapy on Dec 23 (8 weeks). So we have a date to look forward to.

He was working on his wheelchair skills today and claims to have done some sweet wheelies. They took the bars off the chair so he can get the front wheels up high to get over curbs. He learned alot of those skills in Ireland with the team.

Friday we get to work with Tyler on his transfer skills. When they think that everything is good, they will be able to give him a day pass to leave the hospital for a few hours at a time. Maybe next weekend (Nov 18) he can come home for a few hours to see everybody. We will keep you posted.

Cecilia email me at James.ryan@tbsny.toshiba.com. I can't believe you work at WMC.

Thats all for now.

Thank you for everything and can't wait to see everybody.

Love Tyler, Jay Lori Justin and Keeg
8:04 PM

Well... not everything...as promised...the incredible potato zulu warrior...

Update for Monday and Tuesday Nov 6-7

This is a combined update for the first 2 days this week.

Tyler had a crummy day on Monday because his medications made him feel sick. He wasn't himself most all day and went to sleep around 7:30. Tuesday was a much better day. He felt good enough to dress himself without any help. He did his morning therapy and went to the cafeteria for Lunch. Today's therapy involved having him STAND in a special device. The device holds his body up straight and supports most of his weight for him. He stood for about 10 minutes and said it felt good.

Tonight he is excited to see Aunt Maureen because she is bringing him a "zulu sword" from her trip to South Africa. He has been waiting "patiently" for it to arrive. We can only hope it as cool as his zulu warrior sculpture made out of his potatoes last Sunday.

He took a picture of the sculpture with his cell phone and is trying to get it up on the website today.

He also changed to a lighter wheelchair on Monday and it seems to roll better abd steer easier.

It won't be long before he asks to have the wheelie bars removed so he can do some "sweet" tricks.

Thank you everybody and keep those comments coming....anybody got the goose joke figured out yet??

Tyler, Lori Jay Justin and Keegy

Dinner Dance for Tyler

FRIENDS OF TYLER RYAN

Dinner Dance/Silent Auction
to be held at the Walden Firehouse
Saturday, January 20, 2007
6:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Doors open at 5:30
$50 per ticket - $400 per table of 8

Tickets sponsored by Walden Savings Bank

Send Payment and Ticket Requests to:

Most Precious Blood Athletic Department

Friends of Tyler Ryan

180 Ulster Avenue

Walden, NY 12586

If you would like a reserved table of 8, all checks for that table must be sent in together.

Ticket Sales are limited to 300, so all tickets will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

Wear a wristband for Tyler

Be the first on your block to sport our new jazzy wristbands in support of Tyler.

Bands are $5 each, and are available by contacting the following individuals....

Valley Central High School - Maggie Olley and Chelsea Michella

Most Precious Blood - Mrs. Torres

Wallkill High School - Nicole Wendel and Sarah Rossi

Pine Bush High School - Alicia Humphrey

John S. Burke Catholic - Christina Faraone

Orange County Community College - Kate Olley

Don't go to any of these schools?

You can get your band by e-mailing Rich Wendel at rw32561@aol.com (put phone number or return e-mail in the note) or by stopping by the offices of Tom & Kelley Olley, 152 Orange Avenue, Walden.

Update from the Weekend Nov 4-5

Tyler had a busy weekend; lots of visitors and concerts to attend.

There were 3 concerts at HHH this weekend; Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Tyler went to Friday and Saturday's concerts. He even brought the robot (Robbie) to the concert on Saturday and made him dance. He had some surprise therapy on Sunday and missed the big band swing machine.

He was able to get our of his room alot this weekend with his visitors and even went outside and played his guitar with Tammy.

Sunday's dinner featured potato gnuocci (sp?) that Tyler was not crazy about. So he made a zulu warrior sculpture out of it using the raisins from his carrot salad and tinfoil. He has some pictures from his cell phone to prove it. His nurse got a good laugh over it when he showed her!

On Saturday there was a shoot a thon, a Varsity Boys and JV boys Basketball tournament and a bake sale at MPB school. There was also a JV girls tournament at St Stevens in Warwick. There was a great turnout for all the events. Thank you to all the particpants and the people who worked so hard to make the day a lot of fun and a great sucess.

The MPB varsity boys won thier tournament on Saturday and they took the winners plaque (sp?) to Tyler on Sunday. They dedicated the win to him. He was very happy to see the boys even though he was feeling a little under the weather.

On Monday he starts his first full week of therapy and is told he will be getting a different chair and a new Doctor by Wednesday.

Till the next update... Has anyone figured out the joke sent by Aodhan: Why does a goose cross the cement (hint the cement is wet)?

We are looking for help with this so give us your answers

LoveTyler, Jay Lori Justin and Keegan

Friday Nov 3 - Tyler Update

UpdateTyler had a god day today.

He sat in his wheelchair from 10:30 to almost 7:30. There was a concert in the lobby of the hospital tonite. The singer/guitar player sang some folk songs, some Eagles, Don Mclean, and even played some banjo. It was very entertaining.

Tyler got a full workout today; both OT Occupational Therapy) and PT (Physical Therapy) The PT girl was from Walden and her cousin is Mike Northrip! (small world, huh!) In just one day, Tyler's strength has increased and he was more energy!

It must be the solid food he ate today (except for the soggy broccoli and cold pasta).

The weekend will be a little easier because he will not have such an intense therapy schedule.

Visitors can come into the hospital after 11:00am and stay through 9:00pm. There will be times when his nurses may ask visitors to leave the room , but only for 10-15 minutes.

Tomorrow there is another concert in the lobby: more of a rock and roll type band and sunday there is a big band swing concert. So the weekend should be very entertaining!

Thats all for now. Tyler was getting sleepy around 9:00 and hopefully will sleep good tonite.Thank you all for all you have done and good luck to all in the shoot a thon and the MPB basketball tournament. GO Crusaders!

A special thank you to the staff at Toshiba! Tom Becker and all the people at TBSNY are the best to work with and are truly great friends. Your prayers and support mean alot to Tyler and our family.

Tyler, Jay Lori Justin and Tyler

Update for Thursday Nov 2

"Day 3 at boot camp"

Tyler spent more time in the wheelchair today: about 3 hours. He spent about 2 hours looking out the window (overlooking the Hudson river) where he almost got to see a guy in a wheelchair go down some stairs. Luckily the guy stopped in time!

He did about 3 hours of therapy today: working alot on his arm strength.

The visitor highlight of the day goes to Lori, who went out the doors to the basketball court and got locked out. She had to go around to the entrance to get back in. We thought it was pretty funny!

The best time to come and visit is after 4pm.

He is in room 11 in wing 2A.

Visitng hours end at 9PM.

Friday at 6pm there is a concert in the atrium if you want to stop by and catch some sweet tunes.

Can't wait to see everyone!

Thanks again...

Tyler, Lori, Justin, Jay, Keegan

Update for Tyler November 1

First full day at HHH (Helen Hayes Hospital).

Tyler was able to sit up and move to a wheelchair where he did some easy arm exercises and took a small tour of the hospital. He met his Ocupational therapist, Physical therapist, Recreational therapist, and his local drug dealer. He had a small problem wih the medications this morning so he was not feeling himself most of the day. He was able to sit for over an hour in the wheelchair. Tomorrow he will get his daily schedule which will keep him busy from 10am to 3:30 pm monday through friday. His therapists said he did very well and should be able to improve and get stronger pretty quick.

Visiting hours are till 9PM each day, but he will not be up to visitors until the end of the week.

We will let you know when he can have visitors.

Thanks again...
Tyler, Lori, Jay, Justin and Keegan